Spatially resolved submillimeter imaging of the HR 8799 debris disk

J. Patience , J. Bulger , R. R. King , B. Ayliffe , M. R. Bate , I. Song , C. Pinte (1) , J. Koda , C. D. Dowell , A. Kovács

1 IPAG - Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble

Dynamical interactions between planets and debris disks may sculpt the disk structure and impact planetary orbits, but only a few systems with both imaged planets and spatially resolved debris disks are known. With the Caltech Submm Observatory (CSO), we have observed the HR 8799 debris disk at 350 μm. The 350 μm map is the first spatially resolved measurement of the debris disk encircling the HR 8799 planetary system at this wavelength. Both the flux and size of the emission are consistent with a Kuiper belt of dust extending from ~100-300 AU. Although the resolution of the current map is limited, the map shows an indication of offset asymmetric emission, and several scenarios for this possibility are explored with radiative transfer calculations of a star-disk system and N-body numerical simulations of planet-disk interactions with parameters representative of the HR 8799 system.

Based on observations obtained at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory.Figures 3 and 4 are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

Keywords: Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics; radiative transfer; submillimeter: planetary systems; planet-disk interactions; planetary systems

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Astrophysics [astro-ph]

J. Patience, J. Bulger, R. R. King, B. Ayliffe, M. R. Bate, et al.. Spatially resolved submillimeter imaging of the HR 8799 debris disk. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2011, 531, ⟨10.1051/0004-6361/201117395⟩. ⟨insu-03624664⟩